You may remember an interview that I did with Lainie and her son
Miro a while back. This mother-son duo who are slow-traveling the world
together continue to inspire me.

When I heard that they ended up in
Peru’s Sacred Valley for a while to explore their mutual dream of
creating a natural learning retreat, I knew I wanted to share the
opportunity with as many people as I could.

If you, your family, or your
teenage kids are looking to be inspired, to learn to love to learn
again, read on:

So, give us a one or two sentence summary of your latest project.

Project Unschool Peru is a life-changing event
designed to inspire teens and families who wish to experience the magic
of Peru’s Sacred Valley during a 4-week “natural-learning” retreat.

Designed as a temporary learning-community, participants follow their
own interests individually and as a group, focusing on archaeology,
history, ethnobotany, sacred plants and medicines, agriculture, arts and
music, sustainability, Andean mysticism and so much more.

Is this a retreat or an educational gathering?

The retreat centers around the magic of co-creation and embodies the
spirit of a “learning community”. Therefore it is both a retreat AND an
educational gathering. Never knowing exactly what will happen,
“discovery” holds the key, resulting in knowledge gained and lessons
learned.

Venturing to Peru’s Sacred Valley to experience the rich cultural
beauty, history and mystery, one cannot help but to be deeply inspired
and learn a little.

The Project Unschool Peru retreat is an invitation to go where the
magic happens, and when a committed community is created, who knows what
will transpire! Each participant has a special gift, a special
perspective, and so much to explore.

Project Unschool Peru participants
learn from the environment and teach/mentor one another. Participants
give as much as they receive and experience the greatest gift: the gift
of learning, co-creating, and experiencing the magic of life.

What was the inspiration for this retreat?

Project Unschool Peru was born from an inspired idea
between myself (an unschooling mom) and my unschooled teen son, Miro.
Over the last four years, my son and I have transitioned into a unique
lifestyle, one in which we do not have a permanent home, nor are we tied
to any set schedule or follow any formal learning curriculum.

We travel
based on our inspiration and learn naturally along the way. Both my son
and I have witnessed the world transformed into our classroom based on
our individual interests and collective experiences.

Peru is a special place for both of us. Miro and I have both fallen
in love with the country’s unique offerings. Together we have been
inspired to share Peru’s unique history, archeological sites, models of
sustainability, expressive arts, and the deep mysticism contained in the
traditions, as our lives have become enriched and forever changed.

The inspiration for the retreat? To bring these experiences to an
engaged group of interested learners, who support one another as we
reflect on our own relationship to the surrounding culture. It’s a
powerful invitation to look at our own humanity and learn about others.
With inspiration, the idea to create a retreat in the form of a
temporary natural learning community in Peru’s Andes was born.

What is a temporary learning community?

A learning community is a group of people who share common emotions,
values or beliefs, whom are actively engaged in learning together, from
each other and through collective experiences.

The community is temporary in the sense that it will exist in a
certain point in time, and relies on all of its participants to come
together and to breathe life into it. Somewhat within the vein of other
temporary communities such as Burning Man, when the magic happens in a
singular point in time, but the effects remain for a lifetime.

Combining the concepts behind a learning community and the deliberateness of temporality will create an intentional experience.

4 weeks is a lot to some people – can you explain why so long?

We have designed a 4 week retreat that requires the entire four weeks
to experience. Beyond the natural flow of subjects introduced each
week, building upon the previous weeks, there are other fundamental
reasons.

Not only are the participants traveling to high altitudes which
requires time to properly acclimatize, the necessity to have time to
fully immerse into the culture and develop relationships within the
learning community requires at least 4 weeks to be effective.

The retreat costs $3800 USD. The cost covers a flight from Lima to Cusco (and back), all
accommodations and ground transportation for the four weeks of the
retreat.

The cost also includes tea, snacks and 3 meals a day, Monday through
Saturday; all tickets and admission costs to archeological sites
throughout Cusco and the Sacred Valley; all talks, lectures, documentary
screenings, improv theater class, yoga classes, craft, music, and
cooking workshops.

Also included in the price are daily hikes, led by a
professional guide, guided mediation and some surprise guests and
events. The retreat price also includes a 5-day guided trek to Machu
Picchu, all amenities. Lastly, the price includes fun, learning,
community and individual transformations (for more details, be sure to visit the website, www.ProjectUnschoolPeru.com).

What are your guidelines for accepting people into the program or not?

We are looking for people who are familiar with the principles of
natural learning, and who are open-minded and wish to experience both
learning as a community and enjoying the sights, sounds and flavors of
Peru. First and foremost, participation is required. The retreat is
designed for solo teens ages 13-19, couples or any formation or
families.

Do you only accept kids who are currently homeschooled or unschooled?

No, we are open to all kinds of schooled, home-schooled,
world-schooled or unschooled teens. However the retreat does take place
during the traditional school year, June 2nd through the 30th,
so there’s that consideration.

We apply the principles of “radical
unschooling”, so if a participant is not familiar with those
philosophies, we would ask that they become familiar with it before the
retreat.

In essence, we encourage attendance by teens who are responsible for
their own experience (which doesn’t necessarily depend on their style of
educational background).

Although the retreat is designed with many
activity choices, participants don’t have to choose to participate in
activities that don’t interest them, which is part of the unschooling
principles of empowerment. We encourage all the teen participants to
make their own choice about the experience they wish to have.

Whether the teen is schooled traditionally or unschooled, we hope
each person comes to the retreat with a driven desire to participate in
as many activities that interest them. We also hope participants will
discover many more areas of interest that they didn’t have a prior
interest in, and we believe they will become ‘inspired’ to see the world
through new eyes!

Is fluency in Spanish required?

No, Spanish is not required to participate in the retreat. All
discussions, workshops and tours will be conducted in English. If a
participant wishes to learn or practice their Spanish, however, this is
the place to do it!

Tell us a little about the group of leaders you have gathered to work with …

We have assembled a talented group of facilitators for the Project
Unschool Peru retreat. Each staff member is bringing their own unique
blend of talents to the retreat, each focused in a specific field. We
have a seasoned yoga instructor, a theater improv teacher, a teen
leader, a professional hiking guide, an ethnobotanist and teen mentor.

Additionally, we have engaged the guidance of one of the leading voices
within the Radical Unschooling movement, Dayna Martin, to advise us on
all matters relating to natural-learning. We have also invited local
Peruvian artisans, musicians, shamans and farmers to lead workshops
within their selected interests.

Lastly, we’ve engaged a well-known
researcher to share his knowledge on the ancient cultures of Peru,
explore alternative technologies and encourage all of us to look at our
collective human history a little differently.

What are you most excited about in regards to this project?

We are so excited to share the magic of Peru, the cultures and
traditions within the context of a powerful learning experience. Because
Project Unschool Perufocuses on the magic of
co-creation and embodies the spirit of a learning community, one cannot
predict what will be discovered, uncovered or experienced.

The
commitment to being open to all the retreat has to offer with the
intention to experience the grandest version of ourselves is what I’m
most excited about. To experience that, especially in a community
setting is pure magic. My son and I have been planning this retreat for almost a year and seeing it come to fruition is our dream.

What have been the biggest challenges so far?

This is a fair question, however, there really isn’t an answer. My
son and I have been dreaming about creating Project Unschool Perufrom
the first time we visited Peru’s Sacred Valley. We recognized the
opportunity and decided to move to Cusco to start planning the retreat
in June of 2012.

We gave ourselves a year from inception to launch and
in that time, we’ve met exactly the right people, found the perfect
places, made the most perfect relationships and engaged the most
incredible companies to help us out. We have had no challenges or
obstacles and we are financing the project ourselves. The cost of the
retreat covers the expenses and this is being produced as a labor of
love for us.

How do interested people contact you, and what are the steps they have to take to apply?

We have a retreat web site here: ProjectUnschoolPeru.com.
We have all the information for the application process, payments,
retreat details, background and contributors. Please visit the site for
more information and details about participation and registration. We
guarantee this will be a once in a lifetime experience and would love
very much if you joined us. The retreat takes place June 2 - June 30th, 2013Lainie Liberti is a recovering branding expert whose 18-year
career once focused on creating campaigns for green/eco businesses,
non-profits and conscious business. In 2008, California’s economy took a
turn and Lainie decided to “be the change” instead of a victim.

She and
her then 9-year-old son, Miro, began the process of redesigning their
lives, with the dream of spending stress-free quality time together. And
in mid-2009, Lainie and Miro did just that and hit the road for a
permanent adventure.

Three and half years, 13 countries and many personal changes
later, Lainie and Miro are continuing to slow travel around the globe,
living an inspired possession-free lifestyle, and committed to learning
naturally in the world.Lainie and Miro are both following their interests as they live
in various places on the planet, as the world has been transformed into
their classroom. Often you will hear Lainie say “we are blessed to be accidental unschoolers”
and has become an advocate for “life learning” at any age. Lainie and
Miro describe their greatest accomplishment as the ability to
participate in the world without fear. You can read more about
unschooling, life-learning, travel and inspiration on their blog: Raising Miro on the Road of Life.

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ABOUT ME

Dr Robert Muller is an experienced, and well-published author, teacher and researcher who has been teaching and conducting research in Sociology, Criminology, Politics and Public Health in the university sector since 1993. In addition, Robert has been teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) since 1984 in a range of different cultures, including Turkey, Italy, England, and Australia.